About 200 parents, students, and elected officials Wednesday night pleaded with the Boston School Committee to halt plans to change start times for dozens of elementary and K-8 schools, arguing it will deprive students of sleep, force families to spend more for afterschool programs, and chip away at quality family time.
“You will and can figure out a better way,” said Susan Lombardi-Verticelli, whose daughter is a second-grader at the Hernandez K-8 school in Roxbury, which will have a 7:15 a.m. start under the new plan. “I’m not angry. I’m disappointed. Your homework is to look at what a 7:15 start-time school would look like for a child.”